


The Right Side of the Bed

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Crack Treated Seriously, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 15:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13057089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: Olivia cleared her throat. “Listen, if you two can’t decide who’s going to take the bed and who’s going to take the couch, you can both sleep on the floor,” she said pleasantly. “Either that or you can both sleep in the bed. It’s big enough.”Carisi shrugged, glancing over at Barba. “I’m fine with sharing the bed,” he said. Barba looked back at Carisi carefully, the corners of his mouth twitching. “What?” Carisi asked, suspicious.“Trying to decide if I’d rather spend $500 on an Uber ride home or share a bed with you.” Carisi rolled his eyes so hard that Olivia winced, but Barba added, somewhat reluctantly, “But I figure it’s one night. How painful can it possibly be?”“You’ll find out when I kick your shins repeatedly,” Carisi muttered under his breath.





	The Right Side of the Bed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Astronaut_Milky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astronaut_Milky/gifts).



> For Jaci, for the Barisi gift exchange — Merry Christmas, Darling!
> 
> Thanks to AHF for both the beta and the title suggestion.
> 
> Usual disclaimer. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

Barba’s phone buzzed and he glanced down at it and sighed. FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR ZIP CODE 10024, the Accuweather app blared at him, and he glanced toward the window in Olivia’s apartment, taking a sip of his scotch. “Is it supposed to snow tonight?”

No one heard him over the eighteenth iteration of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and loud conversations throughout the apartment during SVU’s annual Christmas party.

No one except Carisi, anyway, who glanced up from his conversation with Rollins to call over the din, “What?”

Barba rolled his eyes. “Nevermind,” he huffed, stalking toward the kitchen, likely in search of a refill.

Both Carisi and Rollins watched him go, Carisi’s expression unreadable as he took another sip of beer before he turned back to Rollins. “Anyway,” he said, “where were we?”

But Rollins wasn’t paying attention.

Instead, she had pulled her phone out and was sending a text.

A moment later, Olivia’s phone vibrated on the counter next to her glass of cabernet sauvignon. _I don’t think the plan’s going to work_ , the text read, and Olivia pursed her lips and slid her phone across the counter to Fin, who glanced down at it, amused. “I coulda told you so,” he said, taking a swig of beer. “Matter of fact, I did.”

“It’ll work,” Olivia insisted, pocketing her phone as Barba made his way into the kitchen. “It has to. Or do you want to spend the next three years the same way we spent the last three?”

Fin snorted. “Good point.”

“What’re we talking about?” Barba asked, curious, as he poured himself another glass of scotch.

“Nothing,” Olivia said brightly. “Discussing Fin playing Santa for his granddaughter.”

For a moment, Barba’s eyes narrowed like he didn’t quite believe her, but then he shrugged. “Right. Well. I have nothing to contribute to that conversation, so I’ll just—”

He made as if to head back out toward the living room but Olivia grabbed his arm. “Oh come on, Rafa, I want to hear all the stories about Christmas when you were a kid,” she said teasingly, though she gave Fin a pointed look.

Fin rolled his eyes and drained his beer. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said. “I gotta take Amanda home anyway.”

“Oh,” Barba said, looking startled. “If everyone’s heading out, perhaps I should—”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Olivia said, not letting go of Barba’s arm. “You just poured yourself more scotch.”

Barba frowned, and Fin took the opportunity to slip out of the kitchen. Rollins caught his eye and handed her beer to Carisi, making some excuse before leaving with Fin. Carisi glanced around, confused, before joining Olivia and Barba in the kitchen. “Fin and Amanda left,” he reported.

Barba rolled his eyes. “You don’t say,” he muttered, his voice laden with sarcasm.

Olivia gave him a look before she switched her gaze to Carisi and smiled widely. “Carisi, does the offer to help clean up still stand?”

“Of course,” Carisi said with a smile. “As the new guy, it’s basically in my job description, am I right?”

Olivia laughed. “We haven’t thought of you as the new guy in quite some time.”

“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Carisi said, laughing as well, heading back into the living to start gathering discarded napkins and paper plates for the trash.

Barba gave Olivia a look. “I think the last thing Carisi needs is your encouragement.”

“Be nice,” Olivia scolded, though she was still smiling. “I thought you two were getting along better these days.”

The latter statement was as pointed as she was willing to be, since she needed Barba to stick around for this plan to work, and being too obvious with her questioning was not the way to ensure that. Barba just rolled his eyes and took another sip of scotch. “We go in cycles,” he said dismissively. “But I could do without the overbearing Christmas cheer.”

“Rafael Barba, Grinch,” Olivia mused. “Color me _shocked_.”

“Hey now,” Barba said, smirking, “I resemble that remark.”

Olivia rolled her eyes and turned to Carisi when he called her name. “You want me to take the trash out?” he asked, holding up the filled garbage bag.

“Sure, that’s probably not a bad idea…” She trailed off, glancing out the window. “Then again, maybe you should wait til morning.”

Carisi frowned and crossed over to the window, peering outside and whistling under his breath. “Holy crap, it’s _blizzarding_.”

Barba rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic,” he scoffed, heading over to the window as well, but his face fell when he looked outside. “There really is a blizzard outside.” He pulled out his phone, tapped a few things, and groaned. “And Uber’s already jacked their prices. Surge pricing should be _illegal_.”

Carisi snorted. “Looks like you’ll have to schlep on public transportation like the rest of us.”

“Actually, according to Twitter, MTA’s already shut down because of the storm,” Barba said mildly. “So it doesn’t look like either of us will be schlepping anywhere any time soon.”

Olivia made a neutral noise, careful to keep her expression under control. “Luckily, I’ve got plenty of room here. You two can just spend the night. One of you can take Noah’s room, one of you can take the couch.”

Barba and Carisi glanced at each other. “I’ll take the couch,” they said in unison, and now Olivia really did have to hide a smile.

“C’mon, I’m younger, fitter, better able to recover from a poor night’s sleep,” Carisi said with a winning smile that he clearly thought would make up for the fact that he was calling Barba old and out of shape.

Judging by the look on Barba’s face, it did not. “And I’m shorter than you and better able to _fit_ on the couch,” he said shortly.

Carisi rolled his eyes. “I can sleep scrunched up,” he said, waving a dismissive hand. “Seriously, take the bed, I’m sure you need your beauty sleep.”

Barba’s eyes narrowed. “I wake up in the morning looking like this, Detective, so perhaps it’s you who needs the beauty sleep.”

Olivia cleared her throat. “Listen, if you two can’t decide who’s going to take the bed and who’s going to take the couch, you can both sleep on the floor,” she said pleasantly. “Either that or you can both sleep in the bed. It’s big enough.”

Carisi shrugged, glancing over at Barba. “I’m fine with sharing the bed,” he said. Barba looked back at Carisi carefully, the corners of his mouth twitching. “What?” Carisi asked, suspicious.

“Trying to decide if I’d rather spend $500 on an Uber ride home or share a bed with you.” Carisi rolled his eyes so hard that Olivia winced, but Barba added, somewhat reluctantly, “But I figure it’s one night. How painful can it possibly be?”

“You’ll find out when I kick your shins repeatedly,” Carisi muttered under his breath.

Olivia smiled at them both. “Excellent, glad that’s cleared up,” she said, a little more brightly than the situation merited, but frankly, she was just glad all the pieces were falling into place. “I’m afraid I don’t have any clothes for you to sleep in—”

“I can sleep in my suit, Lieu, it’s no problem,” Carisi assured her quickly.

Barba looked at him critically. “Are you sure you didn’t already?”

“Anyway,” Olivia said loudly, “I’ll let you two get ready for bed. See you in the morning.”

She disappeared into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, though she may or may not have lingered at the door for a while, listening to the two of them bicker as they moved into Noah’s bedroom and assumedly started getting ready for bed.

She could hear the bed creak once as one of them sat down on it, then it creaked a second time with the weight of a second body. Still, the bickering did not pause, even with the two of them assumedly lying in bed together. Olivia huffed a slightly disappointed sigh and went to change and get ready for bed.

By the time she was done, the bickering had finally ceased, and Olivia fell asleep wondering if this was finally the turning point for Barba and Carisi.

* * *

 

Olivia woke up early the next morning, half-hoping that she could peek into Noah’s room to see Barba and Carisi cuddling together like something out of a movie.

Instead, she woke to the sound and smell of bacon cooking, and frowned in confusion as she wandered out of her bedroom. She wasn’t entirely sure what she expected, but the sight of Carisi cooking in the kitchen while Barba sipped coffee and scrolled through his phone was not it.

“Morning, Lieu!” Carisi called, flipping the bacon. “How do you like your eggs?”

“I recommend over-easy,” Barba said mildly, not looking up from his phone. “He managed to not screw them up too badly. They were almost edible.”

Carisi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, which is why you asked for seconds,” he said, sliding some bacon onto a plate. “Which is not good for you, by the way. Too much cholesterol.”

“Thank you, Dr. Carisi,” Barba said flatly, finally looking up from his phone at Olivia, who was standing there and staring at them. “Problem?”

Olivia shook her head slowly as she came into the kitchen, gratefully accepting the plate of bacon that Carisi held out to her. “No, just…” She trailed off. “Not fully awake yet, sorry.”

Carisi nodded towards the coffeemaker. “Well, there’s coffee to help with that,” he said. “Barba made it, so it’ll definitely wake you up.”

“You two didn’t have to do this,” she told them, sitting down at the table and taking a bite of bacon. “Seriously.”

“It was nothing,” Carisi assured her, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “You let us stay, so it was the least we could do.”

Barba shrugged. “I had to make coffee for myself anyway, so it was in fact the literal least I could do.” He drained the coffee in question and straightened. “Speaking of the least I could, I stripped Noah’s bed and threw the sheets in the wash. I would’ve remade it but I wasn’t sure if he’d want the Star Wars sheets or the Paw Patrol sheets.”

Olivia just shook her head, temporarily speechless. “Paw Patrol, right?” Carisi asked with a grin. “It’s what my niece would want.”

“Yes, well, as much of a subject matter expert as you claim to be,” Barba said, giving Carisi a look, “I figured I’d defer to Liv’s judgment.” He glanced back at Olivia. “Anyway, Uber’s finally dropped the prices to under $100, so I’m going to head home. For the sake of your sanity, I’ll take Carisi with me.”

Carisi huffed a laugh. “Ah, c’mon, I think I’m breaking down your walls, right Counselor?”

“Well, you certainly attempted to break my leg, and I have the bruises to prove it,” Barba muttered. He glanced back at Olivia. “You need anything else before we go?” She shook her head mutely and Barba looked back at Carisi. “Come on, Detective. Let’s go.”

She watched them leave and shook her head again, completely at a loss for anything that had just happened that morning. Her phone buzzed and she looked down at the text from Amanda:  _Did it work???_

Olivia sighed and took a sip of coffee before texting back, _I have no idea_.

* * *

 

Outside, Carisi rubbed his hands together, his breath fogging the air. “So, how about that Uber?” he said conversationally.

“Oh no you don’t,” Barba said, a smirk crossing his face as he reached out and grabbed Carisi’s arm, pulling him towards him. “You’re not getting away that easily.”

Carisi’s laugh was captured by Barba’s lips pressed against his, and he automatically drew Barba closer, kissing him back with enthusiasm and a familiarity born of many similar kisses shared between the two men. “You know,” he said, “we’re really gonna have to tell the Lieu about us sooner rather than later.”

“Maybe,” Barba told him, kissing him once more. “But it’s a lot more fun this way.”


End file.
